# Ghost review (2026): is it worth $15 a month, billed yearly?

> Open source publishing with newsletters and paid memberships

Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA.

Ghost is a publishing platform for websites, email newsletters and paid memberships, made by a non-profit foundation that says its software is open source. The Ghost(Pro) hosted service runs from $15 a month billed yearly, with Stripe-based paid subscriptions and no transaction fee from Ghost on higher plans.

- **Category:** Email Marketing & Newsletters
- **Made by:** Ghost Foundation (since 2013)
- **Website:** https://ghost.org
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Who should skip it:** Tight if you want paid subscriptions: they need Publisher at $29 a month.
- **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026

## Pricing

As of Nov 12, 2026, Ghost is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $15 per month for up to 1,000 members, billed yearly ($18 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** 14-day free trial of Ghost(Pro).

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Starter | $15 per month for up to 1,000 members, billed yearly ($18 billed monthly) | 1 staff user, a default theme with design settings, and email newsletters. Price rises with the member count. |
| Publisher | $29 per month for up to 1,000 members, billed yearly | 3 staff users, custom themes, paid subscriptions, advanced analytics and custom fields. Price rises with members. |
| Business | $199 per month for up to 10,000 members, billed yearly | 15 staff users, priority support, higher usage limits and early access to features. |
| Custom | Custom | Unlimited members and staff users, a dedicated IP address and a 99.9% uptime SLA. Sold through sales. |

Read from https://ghost.org/pricing/ on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Ghost before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Lower price when billed yearly** (Annual discount): The Starter plan is $15 a month billed yearly against $18 billed monthly. Yearly and monthly billing toggle on the pricing page. Source: https://ghost.org/pricing/

## Key features

- **Newsletters built in:** Posts can go out as email newsletters. The pricing page lists multiple newsletters, email templates and editable links after sending.
- **Paid memberships:** Members sign up free or pay through Stripe. Publisher and above include paid subscriptions, tips, premium tiers and special offers.
- **Own website and themes:** Every plan includes a website with a custom domain. Marketplace and custom themes start on the Publisher plan.
- **Member analytics:** Shows who is signing up, who is paying and what members read, with advanced analytics on Publisher and higher.
- **Open source software:** The foundation describes Ghost as open source, and its developer docs include a hosting guide for running it yourself.

## Good for

- Publishers who want a website, newsletter and paid memberships in one product
- Writers who want to avoid revenue-share fees on subscriptions
- Developers or teams comfortable self-hosting

## Worth knowing

- Paid subscriptions, custom themes and custom fields need the Publisher plan; Starter has none of them.
- Starter and Publisher cap out at 1,000 members, and the page says you are notified to upgrade as members grow.
- Ghost takes no transaction fee on payments, but Stripe's payment processor fees still apply.
- Only a browser-based admin is listed; no desktop or mobile apps appear on the pages read.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Ghost is a publishing platform with newsletters, paid memberships and its own website, as managed hosting or open source. Starter is $15 a month for up to 1,000 members, but paid subscriptions, custom themes and custom fields wait on Publisher at $29. It is a browser app only.

- **Value for money: C.** $15 a month on yearly billing ($18 monthly) for 1,000 members is the middle of this category. Publisher, with paid subscriptions, is $29.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** A 14-day free trial. The listing does not say whether a card is needed, and there is no free plan.
- **Features: C.** Newsletters, memberships, a website and analytics. Starter has no paid subscriptions, custom themes or custom fields, and the pages read show no marketing automation.
- **Ease of use: C.** A web admin with no rating on record. You pick a theme and set up a site as well as a newsletter.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, with Stripe, Zapier, Slack, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Google Analytics, Discord and Plausible.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Ghost's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among email marketing and newsletter tools

- Ghost's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 17 of the 57 other email marketing and newsletter tools we grade, and level with 9.
- It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 7 of 57) and worst on features (C, above 3).
- Its paid plans start at $15 a month, against a middle price of $15 for the category: 23 of the 47 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 14 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/email-marketing

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace Ghost you would be making newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 31 of the 57 other email marketing and newsletter tools grade higher. It costs $180 a year. Ghost is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.

- You could make: Paid newsletters: an app builder makes this well.
- You could not: Newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Stripe, Zapier and Slack among them.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Stripe, Zapier, Slack, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Google Analytics, Discord, Plausible

**Tags:** Paid newsletters, Email campaigns, Open source

## Alternatives

- [Substack](https://toolgpa.com/tools/substack): Newsletter, podcast and video publishing with paid subscriptions. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ghost-vs-substack)
- [beehiiv](https://toolgpa.com/tools/beehiiv): Newsletter platform with paid subscriptions, ads, website and podcast. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/beehiiv-vs-ghost)
- [Buttondown](https://toolgpa.com/tools/buttondown): Newsletter software priced by active subscribers, with add-ons. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/buttondown-vs-ghost)
- [Kit](https://toolgpa.com/tools/kit): Email marketing and paid newsletters for creators. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ghost-vs-kit)
- [MailerLite](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailerlite): Email newsletters, automations, sites and paid subscriptions. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ghost-vs-mailerlite)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026:

- https://ghost.org/pricing/
- https://ghost.org/
- https://ghost.org/about/
- https://docs.ghost.org/hosting

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/ghost
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).